Seattle Historical Sites

In the opinion of the survey, this property appears to meet the criteria of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.

This building is in the Uptown neighborhood and was designed by Andrew McQuaker. The building was designed for the Queen Anne RealtyCompany as a “store and flat building.” The drawings were completed in February of 1925, with revisions through May of 1925. The original drawings are available through the Department of Construction and Inspections. The building originally featured nine apartments on the second floor (five two-room units; one three-room unit; and three four-room units). Polk directories listed the building as the Aloha Apartments from 1931 through 1975. Commercial storefronts as of 1951 included 828 Taylor Avenue N; and 551, 553, 557, and 561 Aloha Street.

In 1939 architects Arthur Loveless and Lester Fey designed alterations to a commercial space at the west end of the building. Drawings were dated January 18, 1939. Lester Paul Frey and Arthur Loveless worked together from 1923 to 1926, and then again in 1927, rising to become a partner by 1935. This design work occurred just before Daniel Lamont joined the firm and it was renamed Loveless, Fey & Lamont.

In 1944, architects Johanson, Bain, Brady and Grainger prepared remodel drawings for the building’s apartments as part of a reconditioning project through the Home Owners Loan Corporation Reconditioning Department within the US National Housing Authority Homes Use Program (project W45 A904). The drawings are dated February 24, 1944 with revisions on April 3, 1944. This work is notable as Naramore, Bain, Brady, and Johanson founded NBBJ in 1943. Thomas Grainger stamped the drawings.

Andrew McQuaker was born ca. 1880 in Ayrshire, Scotland and married to Mary McQuaker, also from Scotland. Andrew was listed as an architect in the 1930 census. McQuaker graduated from the Technical College in Glasgow and, with Mary, immigrated to the U.S. in 1910, settling in Seattle by 1911. The couple had three children: George (born ca. 1911), John (born ca. 1914), and Andrew Jr. (born ca. 1916). The couple lived at 817 30th Avenue. McQuaker designed the National Register of Historic Places-listed Bickel School in Twin Falls, Idaho (1937–1938). He had a brief partnership with Pierce A. Horrocks in the 1920s. McQuaker’s work includes the Ambassador Hotel (1925) at 8th Avenue and Union Street, the Caledonian Hotel (1925) at 7th Avenue near Union Street, the Ballard Elks Building, and the McDowall Building, which housed the Saveway Store No. 2. He was also the architect for the remodeling of the Capital Theatre in 1926. His office was in the Mehlhorn Building. He was also the vice president of the Mutual Business Club and a member of the Masonic Lodge in 1926.

This building retains a moderate level of integrity and is a notable example of a 1920s mixed-use building within the neighborhood.

References:

City of Seattle DCLU Microfilm Records.

Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, ed., Shaping Seattle Architecture: A Guide to the Architects (Seattle, University of Washington Press: 2014), 2nd edition.

King County Property Record Card (c. 1938–1972), Washington State Archives.

Polk's Seattle Directories, 1890–1996.

Seattle Daily Times, November 12, 1926: 46.

Year: 1930; Census Place: Seattle, King, Washington; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0161; FHL microfilm: 2342234.

Constructed in 1925, the two-story mixed use (multi-family residential and commercial) building stands at the southeast corner of Aloha Street and Taylor Avenue N. The building features a rectangular footprint oriented lengthwise along Aloha Street, with a canted northwest corner, alond with a basement.

The site is generally level, with a downward slope from north to south. Sidewalks extend along the north and west sides of the building, with a narrow planting strip on the north side. There are several trees along the north and south sides of the site. An alley abuts the east end of the building and there is a parking lot to the south.

The building features a flat roof with a perimeter parapet. The parapet has elliptical arched projections above the northwest corner, at the south end of the west facade, and along the north facade. Built up asphalt composition roofing clads the roof. There are two small, hipped roof skylights centrally located within the roof.

A concrete foundation supports the platform frame structure. Brick veneer clads the north and west facades. The brick ranges in color from brown to cream and has a raked finish (shallow vertical, parallel scoring to create texture). A soldier course runs along the top edge of the parapet. Diamond patterns formed with three high-fired dark central bricks and a border of light-colored brick runs along the parapet. A band of vertically coursed bricks wraps the north and west facades at the top of the second story and serves as the header for the second story windows. A solider course wraps the building’s north and west facades at the top of the first story and serves as the header for the commercial storefronts and northwest entrance. Brick-clad piers between commercial storefronts utilize decorative brick bonding patterns to provide visual interest.

Windows at the second story on the north and west facades consist of double hung, 8:1 wood sash units. All windows feature rowlock brick sills and brick moldings. The windows occur in single and paired units having separating wood mullion. Windows at the first story of the north facade at the east end consist of paired double hung, 8:1 wood sash units. These windows feature brick moldings, sills, and wood mullions. They occur in paired and triple groupings, as well as flanking the north entrance.

Entrances consist of commercial and residential. The main commercial entrance is located at the northwest corner of the building and consists of a pair of wood doors with tall upper glass lites and recessed lower panels. The north entrance features engaged pilasters with decorative fluting and raised profiles at the top of the pilasters. The west residential entrance consists of a wood door with two upper lites located at the southwest corner of the building. A wall sconce adjacent to the doorway provides lighting at night.

Alterations include the addition of the Laredos sign at the northwest corner and the cloth awnings on the north and west facades (replacing a marquee that wrapped the north and west facades). The east and south facades received vinyl siding (replacing narrow profile clapboard cedar siding, and the wood window casings) and vinyl replacement windows and associated trim. Windows on the east and south facades occur in single, paired, and triple configurations. Adding a commercial ventilation exhaust system to the south facade to support the building’s commercial functions. The storefronts along Aloha Street at the east end of the facade received new cementitious cladding above and below the windows. The storefronts at the west end of Aloha Street and along Taylor Avenue N have all been reconfigured with new bulkheads and display windows. Transoms have been covered over above storefronts at the east end of the north facade, and the south end of the west facade. Small shed roof awnings carried on wood brackets used to project out above second story north and west facade windows below the elliptical arched parapet sections. These have all been removed. The building’s boilers were upgraded in 1991. In 2005, a seismic survey was conducted and the building’s central first floor commercial space was remodeled for restaurant use, converting a former apartment and a grocery space into the existing restaurant. The northwest entrance has been reconfigured, with doors placed flush with the outer wall plan. Originally the doorway was a recessed single door with flanking display windows.